For Sir Joseph Lamb, 1930s Staffordshire politician, see Joseph Lamb (politician)Joseph Francis Lamb (December 6, 1887 - September 3, 1960) was a noted American composer of ragtime music. Lamb, of Irish descent, was the only non-African American of the "Big Three" composers of classical ragtime, the other two being Scott Joplin and James Scott. Life and Career, Lamb was born in Montclair, New Jersey. The youngest of four children, he taught himself to play the piano, and was very taken with the early ragtim...